Dragonstime: Starsflight
by Thais of the Star
Summary: With the aid of Joozith, Star finds herself and her fire lizards on Pern. Her telepathics abilities lead many to think she ought to be a Rider, but Impressing would keep her from home forever. Edits by Kitsuneko and Sunfairy. Dragonstime, 3
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer_: I don't own anything/anyone from the Pern world books. I do own most of the characters in this story and anything else not from the original series.

For my readers who might not know:

Thought/Speech Guide

"Blahblah", with double quotations, is audible speech

'Blahblah', with single quotations, is thinking

_Blahblah_, in italics, is telepathy

Please not that this chapter is only a short, partially explanatory note to events which happen later. S'pilron isn't the main character, and he's not important to the story. It can be skipped, although I'd recommend reading it as it does contain some explanations you might want later. Thanks!

_Prologue_

**Pern**

Despite it being the middle of Threadfall, S'pilron directed his blue dragon down to the Southern beach, to the clutch of fire lizard eggs he had spotted. "Land me near them," he directed. Dizith obeyed, and his rider eagerly leapt off the young dragon. He took care to grab the bag he had tied behind his dragon's flying saddle for just such an occasion on the way down. With a soft jarring, he landed on the sands and went over to the clutch.

He crouched down and hurriedly looked them over, not caring if he disturbed the sands, sand, and found that no snakes had gotten them. A gold's clutch, and hard enough to hatch within the next two days! The new Rider grinned triumphantly, and was promptly scratched on the back of his head.

The queen swooped down again, shrieking her fury at his touching her eggs, and he ducked just in time. _Get 'er outa here! _He cried to Dizith. The blue did so, and the gold disappeared mid-squeak. S'pilron bundled the eggs into his sack with plenty of sand. He'd go _between_ times when he returned to the Fall to escape his wingleader's wrath, and fight the Thread then.

What a prize! He'd sell the clutch, some of it, for he wanted to be able not only to boast a dragon, but a high-ranking fire lizard, or two or three or four even, as well. He laughed. Twenty-four eggs! And no telling what the inlanders would pay to get their hands on some of them. At least a mark an egg, maybe one and a half for a couple of the larger eggs he wouldn't keep for himself.

Dizith lowered a shoulder as his rider came up. Well, maybe he wouldn't fly _between_ times to fight. Instead he strapped the eggs safely behind him. The blue dragon launched himself up into the air and S'pilron gave the dragon a hunk of firestone.

At the end of the Fall S'pilron told his dragon to land him to gather hotter sands for the eggs. He greedily stuffed sand in, and heaved it back to the blue. Dizith grumbled. _I do not like this. They may well die for you to have marks. _S'pilron grimaced, but climbed aboard. He knew how to take care of eggs. "Let's get back to the Weyr."

"Hey!" he shouted at his dragon as they came out from the blackness of teleportation and he felt the sack slightly lighter than before. "I think I lost at least a couple of the eggs _between_ because you didn't warn me!" The blue rumbled, but he could feel the dragon was regretful. S'pilron relented. "Sorry. Not your fault. But warn a body, okay?"

_All right, and I am sorry, _Dizith added. _But they may well end up in a place where someone will care for them. I felt them and gave them a push in the right direction._ The bluerider frowned, puzzled. _They will be safe. I felt them_, the dragon said confidently.

Unsure and a little confused, S'pilron said nothing.


	2. Eggs in the Sand

_Disclaimer_: I don't own anything/anyone from the Pern world books. I do own most of the characters in this story and anything else not from the original series.

Chapter One:_ Eggs in the Sand_

**Earth**

The ball sailed through the air. Star chased after it, trying to keep her footing in the sand, but the hot beach slowed her, and the ball landed. "Dang," she muttered under her breath. The fifteen-year-old trudged up to the ball, and then returned to her volleyball team. "Sorry," she told the other players, and launched the ball into the air. Before it could land, she smacked it across the net and frowned when the other team intercepted it.

A wind blew through her hair, colder than usual, and not from the waves that pounded the beach. She frowned and looked into the gust, toward her towel and outer clothes, lying on a log further down the beach.

Nothing. What did she expect? She shook her head, black hair highlighted with a streak electric blue flying around. She tried to pay more attention to the game she and the other kids were playing.

They finished not long after, when the sun began to set, the other beach-goers left, and the warmth fled from all shade. She said her goodbyes to them, and they trudged back to their cabins or the showers after collecting their stuff. Star looked up at the moon, visible though the sun had yet to sink behind the ocean. The camp had been going on for the past twelve days. Tomorrow would be Sunday, and she and the other campers, ranging from ages thirteen to sixteen, would be packing and going home after two weeks of warm June weather. She'd made acquaintances, if not friends, while she was here. She didn't make friends that easily, but the few she made were lasting friendships.

She walked back to where her beach bag sat on a log and pulled it off the dead tree. A small motion caught her eye and she looked back over her shoulder. Something seemed to have fallen out of her bag. "Dang," she muttered again, and swung the bag up over her shoulder. Three little objects were lying in the hot sands, and she seriously doubted they had fallen out of her bag.

Star reached over to pick one up; its heat surprised her into nearly dropping it. The creamy shell was mottled with splotches of light brown. It fit just in the hollow of her palm, oval in shape. All at once she let it fall onto the soft sands.

They were eggs.

Three eggs.

She looked around. No one was near or paying any attention to her. Hesitantly, Star picked all three up, cradling them in her hands. She could not pass up the opportunity to see and identify a specimen of a wild creature, whenever the adult of the species returned. Some reptiles, she knew, used compost to keep their eggs warm. Sand was a lovely way as well.

Vaguely she wondered why no one had discovered them before, then realized that they had been half-hidden beneath the log. She herself wouldn't have looked there if she hadn't thought she had lost something. Star studied the eggs for a moment, then set them back down and slid them just under the log. High tide was far away, perhaps thirty feet down the beach. She covered them in warm sand. Confident that no one would find them, she headed back to camp to change out of her swimming suit for dinner.

000

Star came back the next day at the first opportunity, a little before noon, to check the eggs. She had brought her lunch, a book, a beach blanket and a towel, in case she went swimming later, in her bag. Claiming a spot not far from the log and the mound of sand that was her three covered eggs, she settled down and opened her thick volume to the bookmark, a fake $100 bill.

After reading a page, and realizing she had no clue what she'd just read, she succumbed to temptation and brushed aside the sand to look at the mysterious eggs. She lightly laid her fingers over one. Beneath her hand, the egg gave a spasmodic jerk.

With a gasp she pulled her hand back and looked around. Once more no one was watching. 'They can't hatch now! I haven't got anything for them to eat!' she thought. 'I'm no mama!' She had only wanted to see the mother of this creature, not actually have them hatch on her!

'Oh, no,' she thought, 'what if I scared the mother off? They might die without her!' Star looked down at the rocking egg. A second began to tremble. 'Real mama or no, I guess I'm at least a temporary one until they can get out of here.' She sighed and pulled out her sack lunch, then took out her tuna fish sandwich. 'Hope they're omnivorous…'

000

Star stared down at the two creatures on her blanket. Their wet-darkened skins were like soft suede, one nearly brown, but not quite. She supposed it was bronzy. The other was smaller and blue. They chirped, and she got a swift impression of hunger from them.

Cautiously, she tore off some of her sandwich and set it in front of her. The bronzy one pounced, wings half-spread, and gobbled it down in one go. Star set more out for them, and was surprised when the blue leapt into her hand. Carefully, she continued to feed them, but soon found that one sandwich was not enough.

And then the third hatched, spilling a dainty, tiny green creature onto the sand. Random, intense impressions of hunger pelted her from three sources. Star proceeded to alternate feeding between all three of them. They shrieked for her to continue feeding them as she fumbled hastily for her bagel and cream cheese. After that all she'd have left was a couple of hard-boiled eggs and a can of soda. She didn't think the soda would be good for them, whatever they were.

They were sedated by the time their skins were dried out. The blue, now a light sky blue, and the larger bronzy one curled up in her arms, while the green, dark as sushi seaweed, settled on her knee as the teenager sat cross legged. 'Uh-oh,' she thought, as they appeared to fall asleep. Gently, she shifted them to the head of her blanket and brought down the top, neatly covering the three sleeping creatures.

Then she lay back on the blanket, careful to shift down so as not to disturb her new friends, and fell into a light doze.

000

She woke around dinnertime, and found that she was extremely hungry. The little creatures were waking, giving her their hunger thoughts again, not urgently. Hurriedly but gently, she shifted them so that she could carry them, voices only just muffled, in the blanket, then grabbed her bag and set off back to the cabins at a fast pace.

Star set the bundle on her bunk and threw on her jeans and T-shirt over her bathing suit. She unintentionally sent something inaudible along the lines of _Stay here, don't move, I'm going to get some food, _to her companions. They stayed. They grumbled _Hunger! Impatience!_ at her, but they didn't wiggle. Much, anyway.

In a mad dash she was out the door, racing to get food before someone noticed her.

000

Inevitably, she wound up being steered to dinner, and then got drafted on to dish-clearing duty after dinner. By then the little creatures were screaming in her mind with hunger. She sent them calming thoughts, though how she suddenly knew how, she never figured out, and managed to sneak, in the pretext of going out back to the restroom, a heaped plate of table scraps, spaghetti and meatballs and set it out by the corner of the bathrooms for retrieval later.

But by the time she came back out, pleased with her performance, it was clean of all but some of the noodles and a bit of sauce. Horrified at the thought of having a dog or something come and eat what she had saved so carefully, she was brought up short by impressions of gratitude, sleepiness, and smugness. On the roof of the restrooms, silhouetted by the near-gone sunset streaks across the sky, were three dark shapes.

They all glided down to her, still projecting their gratitude and sleepiness, and landed on her, the green on one shoulder, bronze on the other and the blue on her arm. "As long as you things are fed, I'm okay with anything you '_say'_ to me." She smiled indulgently at the green, and ran a finger over the membranes of the velvety wing.

A soft croon emanated from the little creature, and she turned back to her cabin, feeling as sleepy as she could ever remember.

000

She was jerked out of sleep by a sudden thought: ravenous hunger, and not just her own. Star looked down beside her, and found three pairs of rolling, no… spinning, whirling eyes rainbow in color, by her side. "Hello," she whispered, and sent welcoming thoughts to them. The green came forward until she lost sight of the little creature when she touched her nose. _Hungry! Hungry!_ They insisted.

"Oh, all right, I'm up," she yawned, and sat up. It was incredibly early. With a grumble she checked her watch. 'Six. Lovely.' She got out of bed quietly. The previous night she had positioned her sleeping bag over herself and her three friends, so the others would not see them. She would release them back on the beach today, she decided, before she and the rest of the campers left.

Stifling a groan she got out of bed and snuggled deeper into her sweatshirt. It was freezing. Cautiously she hobbled outside, the little creatures following, and went to see if she could get something to eat for them.

On the walk, she watched them zip back and forth in the air. She wondered again just what sort of creature they were, to have four legs and wings. She chuckled again, and smiled as they darted around…

Eating.

They were eating moths. "So you can get your own food. Good," she muttered. "I won't have to deal with you." Nearly to the kitchen she turned and headed towards the beach, hoping no one would hear her. The beaches were off limits until eight, after breakfast.

The tide was out, leaving shallow pools exposed. Her friends chirped their excitement and dove about scooping up anything small enough to eat but large enough to be worth it. Star sat on a rock, and watched them for a minute.

Then she turned and tried to leave quietly. _Stay!_ She sent to them, _don't look for me_. For a moment she was glad she had succeeded, then stopped as they came squeaking back to her. _Go!_ She urged, _Leave!_ They disappeared faster than she could see.

Star blinked, then shrugged and started back to her cabin. After all, how was she supposed to keep them when she couldn't even think what they were? All of a sudden they reappeared and homed back in on her, settling on her shoulders and her arm. _Go!_ she all but screamed at them. They set up a clamor she would have thought could wake the dead. _Shhh! Be quiet!_ She scolded, and the sounds died away.

The little creatures clustered closer into her black, blue-highlighted hair, sending love and assurance at her. Star laughed, smiling resignedly at them. She was very sure that she was going nowhere without them.


	3. Pint Sized Dragons

_Disclaimer_: I don't own anything/anyone from the Pern world books. I do own most of the characters in this story and anything else not from the original series.

Chapter Two:_ Pint-Sized Dragons_

**Earth**

After breakfast, Star returned to her cabin, having told her little flitter friends to stay on the roof. They seemed delighted to lounge in the sun, broadcasting their contentment and happiness to her. She found most of the other girls already half-packed, the camp buses leaving in an hour and a half. Quickly, she piled her clothes in her large suitcase, stuffed her sleeping bag into the duffle she carried it in and put her current book, sketchbook and drawing materials in her handbag.

Just for a minute she looked at the bag in her hand, then opened it and withdrew a pen and her sketchbook. The little creatures would be fun to draw, if she could keep them still long enough. Star stacked her suitcase, sleeping bag and pillow on her bunk, then went outside. She looked up at the roof and was glad to see the little flitters lying quite still. She sat on a rock and looked up at them for a moment, then lowered her fine ballpoint pen to the paper and sketched the building's outline.

Next she added the rough outline of the rocks and the impression of sand, the path leading to the door and the tall tree leaning over the doorway like a shady blessing. After getting the main points she added more details, and finally drew the little creatures, every minute fold of the wing pinions, and the sparkles in their eyes. She could discern no expression on those faces, but she understood their contentment, the love of the sun and added the slightest curving line to each face to show the smug smiles she imagined for them.

Her cabin mates must have been talking inside, for now they came out, not at all quietly, disturbing the peaceful solitude she had created around herself. Star jumped, then settled, but her little friends were not so easily calmed. The green gave an incredibly high-pitched cry, the bronze echoing her on a lower note, the blue voicing a startled hiss. Luckily the girls took that moment to laugh at some joke, and if they heard probably thought it was someone screeching at some game or other at some other part of the camping grounds.

Star kept very still, hardly breathing as the little creatures disappeared faster than physically possible, and the girls moved away. She sent thoughts of inquiry as to location, reassurance at their fright and a gentle compulsion to return to her. They immediately reappeared, chirping complacently just over her head. With a gasp, she froze solid.

'Teleportation?'

Was that even possible? What _were_ they anyway?

For the time they had been with her, she had managed to put off the inevitable thoughts. Now she could no longer, seeing them in a new light. They were mysterious, and not of this world. She looked up at them, and the bronze and green settled on her shoulders, the blue landing on her sketchbook, scratching the paper and the sheet below it irreparably. "Hey," she frowned at the blue, who startled into the air and gave a mournful cheep.

With a sigh, she picked up the book and tore off the ruined drawing. It was mangled, but she could still recognize the forms of-

She stopped and looked harder, then looked up at her friends and compared them.

'No. It's impossible,' she thought. 'That's not real.'

But it was. What she had drawn and what she had sitting on her shoulders and arms right now were three miniature dragons. She had somehow never truly believed in dragons even when she had seen on television the appearance, near on a year back, of a shining, golden dragon with three riders in the middle of New York City. And later, eight had appeared and rescued so many wounded victims from an explosion of an as-yet unknown cause in the same American city.

And now she had three of them, albeit in pint-sized versions, sitting on her.

000

Being the only person in the cabin, Star summoned the little dragons to her, with the door closed, testing her theory. _Come!_ She called mentally to them. There was a little gust of incredibly cold air, raising goose bumps on her skin, and she shivered. But they were there, chattering excitedly, and she stroked them absently, marveling over her good luck to find their eggs. These three settled on her lap again.

Randomly she wondered if they had names at all, and sent a querying thought to them. They looked up at her, eyes sparkling and dancing. Giggling, for they looked so comic with their heads all tipped to the left, she decided they didn't. Did they need some, for however long they would be with her? Of course they did. But not stupid names, nice ones, not like 'Fluffy' or 'Mr. Snickers', but decent names.

She looked at the one on her right first. It was a green dragon, though a very small one. Green… 'Verdi?' No, that wasn't right. Sasha? Closer, but still not perfect; Star found rolling names lovely, such as those in elvish, as in the Lord of the Rings.

Some elven words were quite pretty. She tried a few from the movies as names. Names such as Namarie, meaning farewell… no, or Elanor, meaning star, perhaps…

She had once had a friend some years back who spoke if not fluent Elvish some phrases. "_Vanya sulie_" was a farewell, meaning fair winds. 'Vanya', she thought, 'would probably mean fair, then', and she looked into the little green dragon's eyes. _Vanya_.

With a whirl of her eyes, the newly named Vanya chirped in gratitude and excitement over her name. 'Her? A she?' The teenager didn't even try to understand how she knew the green was female.

Turning to the others, Star searched her meager elvish vocabulary for a good name for the blue and the one whose hide resembled dark, smoothly solid-colored bronze. Elanor was what Samwise Gamgee had named his daughter in the Lord of the Rings books. It was certainly too feminine. Both the bronze and blue dragons were very masculine. Perhaps a male form of Elanor? El…zan… ir? Elzanir? No… neither was an Elzanir-sounding kind of dragon. Elzon… Elzin.

Elzin for the blue, her bronzy friend was not right for that.

'Okay. Something not elvish now, something… realistic and masculine.' She could just go with Tom, or John. But that was a little too here-and-now. She needed a good, solid but soft, elegant but not femininely pretty, enigmatic but pronounceable name. Star snorted.

The bronze looked up at her, waiting patently. Nirvana. Or Nivi; that was a little less… less _girly_. Nivi was perfect.

Elzin, Vanya and Nivi.

Star smiled happily.

Then she sighed and grimaced. "Now all I have to do is get you all home somehow… and figure out how to keep you hidden."

000

At last Star decided she would have to have them follow the bus. And if they couldn't follow, then she'd be no worse off than she had been before finding their eggs.

The campers helped each other load their luggage onto trucks for the ride back to Seattle, and then said their good-byes. Star had no one she was particularly eager to see again. All the others wanted to talk about was fashion and boys and hairstyles and other things she saw as unnecessary in her life. If she didn't like something she made no bones about showing it. True, there were some nice kids, other than the preppy cheerleaders, but none of them were interested in much the same things as Star was. She grinned evilly. As some of her friends had said, she was unique. But that was a good thing. She didn't really want to spend hours a day hanging out with people; she liked drawing and reading better.

Instead, as the others got E-mail and I-M addresses and phone numbers she surreptitiously stepped away from them and contacted the little dragons through the new mental telepathy she seemed to have acquired. She impressed on them that they must not be seen. They were to follow the bus, just above it or even on it, and not be seen.

Vanya, Elzin and Nivi paid careful attention from wherever they were and she just barely saw three colored streaks zip up and settled on top of one of the buses. Moments later they began loading and she hastened to find a seat on that bus, setting her bag on the chair next to her so it looked like she was saving a seat for a friend, and took the window seat to look out the window.

The dragons brushed her thoughts when she queried them on their orders, and assured her they would be flying just above the bus. She took a shaky breath and let it out slowly. 'We might just pull this off,' she thought.


	4. Home Sweet Home

_Disclaimer_: I don't own anything/anyone from the Pern world books. I do own most of the characters in this story and anything else not from the original series.

Chapter Three:_ Home Sweet Home_

**Earth**

It was some two hours' drive to the pick-up point where her mother waited, the parking lot of a high school halfway back to Seattle. On the drive, Star frequently checked on the dragons, making sure they were doing all right. Every time, they were.

When they arrived, she looked out the window, and marked out her mother, a kind-faced woman, not overweight but certainly no actress, with a braid of brown hair standing in the shade of the high school. As soon as she saw them come around the corner, Lola smiled broadly and came forward.

Mother and daughter smiled and waved as she and the other parents kept pace beside the bus. When they stopped and the doors opened, Star took up her bag and exited behind several other eager campers. Everyone smiled and greeted their parents.

Lola Armstrong hugged her daughter, just her height, then let go and started to walk over to the pile of luggage, one arm still around her shoulders. Star checked the dragons mentally and reinforced her request that they stay flat on the top of the bus until she could find a good spot. Absently she stared off to the side, at a place in the wall where a single door stood, shaded, for the sun was on the other side of the building, though not too low as yet. On each side of the door, nearly touching a corner of the building were potted plants.

She didn't know the dragons were watching both through her eyes and their own until all three popped up there and darted into the most shadowed corner, behind a pot filled with half-dead pansies.

Her heart jumped, and she quickly turned her attention to the pile of baggage, picking out her large suitcase by the ribbons –blue, red and yellow– she had braided together and tied on the handles. Star hauled that one to its wheels and, finding it the perfect excuse, dragged it over to the corner where her little dragons lurked. Silently, she impressed again on them the need for secrecy and stealth. They chirped affirmative quietly, and she returned for her duffle bag holding her sleeping bag.

Lola carried her daypack and duffle, while her daughter towed the large suitcase behind her. "So I want to hear all about it," the woman said. "How was it?"

'I found three dragons and they teleport,' was the first thing that came to mind. "It was good," she said instead. "Really warm, too. The water wasn't freezing like it is in Puget Sound, but I haven't been in for a while." 'I was too busy trying to hide a couple of dragons.'

000

On the ride home Star was silent, listening to some good music, not the same kind or as loud as some people liked it, but good enough for her and her mother. They sang along together. Lola's voice was clear and deep, though not abnormally so for a woman. Her daughter knew her own singing wasn't perfect, but she did all right. Even though she'd never joined her High School choir or tried any sort of voice lessons at all, she could at least participate, even if she was horrible. People said they liked her singing voice, but…

Star cleared her throat and made sure to let her mother's voice drown her out. Soon she was just humming along with the song.

When at last the song ended she checked on the dragons, doing their best to keep up with the car on the highway. Then the blue seemed to have an idea and passed it on to the other two. They went slow, but kept teleporting in leaps ahead of the car. She smiled slightly.

Gradually she began to recognize landmarks, and knew they were almost home. Eventually her mother broke the silence. "Are you hungry?" she asked. Star jumped and blinked, then shrugged.

"A little. Not terribly."

"Want to stop and pick up something at the Market?" By the Market she meant the Pike Place Market, on their route.

"Nah," Star said.

"Anxious to get home?"

"Yeah."

Silence once more fell between them, though not uncomfortably. There was simply nothing they needed or wanted to say.

000

Lola Armstrong, her husband Michel Jefferson and Star Armstrong lived in a house in West Seattle, down two blocks from the beach where they went sometimes in warm weather. From her upstairs bedroom window she could see the water, and if she strained with her window open she could just hear the sound of the waves, when it was quiet and no cars ran on the roads close by.

The pair pulled up in front of the house. Already, she had told the dragons they were to wait for her call on the roof. Just visible when she looked hard, a small green head rose over the roof peak. _Hush_, she told them. _Be still._

Lola reversed to slide neatly into spot between her husband's car and their neighbor's. She pressed a button under the dashboard to open the trunk and went around to the back to haul out the bags. Star took the large rolling suitcase from her mother and shut the trunk with her free hand, and they came into the house.

It was furnished comfortably, but not crowded, and not as much for style as for comfort. The living room they entered was considerably green; from the walls and fluffy carpet in the center to a large painting of a thick, blown glass green bowl with matching apples and pears.

Star hauled her bag upstairs to her room, her mother following, and dumped it on her floor, then took Lola's burden and tossed them on her neatly made bed. The down comforter _floofed _as first the bags touched down and then the teenager flopped onto it on her back, staring at the ceiling.

The second her mother left she was on her knees and opening the window over her bed. A call from her brought the noisily chirping dragons into her room. "Shhhh!" she said, and pointed at the bed. They obediently stopped whizzing around and settled gently onto the carved headboard, wings flipped to their backs and heads up at attention.

Vanya crooned when Star flopped back to sit cross-legged on the rumpled comforter and shuffled her green wings. 'Oh, what would they say if they knew I was talking to the pretty little birdies like humans?' she thought with a sigh. "I need you to stay out of sight from everyone. You should be able to catch food outside, so for most of the time I'll need you to stay out there."

Erzin, Vanya and Nivi chirped like they understood, and they came forward to stroke their heads along her cheek. Star held them gently, feeling the chill of her friends' skins and not caring.

Some time later she heard someone, her mother, because her father was at work, coming up the stairs to her room and swiftly sent her friends out the window. Seconds after she had slid it shut and thrown herself across the bed to stare up at the ceiling Lola knocked.

"Yeah?" she called.

"I'm putting in a load of wash, bring your stuff down when you're finished," her mother called.

"I'll start."

"You haven't yet?" Lola sounded startled. "Well, get hurry up! You can't just stare into space. I want to do some gardening today, and short of a dragon crash-landing in _Seattle_ this time-" she chuckled at the undignified arrival of the first golden dragon to Earth "-you haven't got an excuse to skip out on chores."

Star smiled and couldn't quite stifle a giggle. It took all her effort just to keep from retorting that _her_ very own _three_ dragons were more agile than that gold, being much smaller. Instead she slid off her bed and started unpacking.

000

If she never complained about gardening, she never suggested it either. For the next couple of hours Star and Lola pulled weeds and watered the flowers and tomatoes and other assorted plants, vegetable or flower, in the front yard. They hadn't been able to care for the plants last summer, having visited her mother's relatives in New York just after the eight dragons had helped in the rescue efforts.

Janine had died in the hospital and no one had seen her son David, safe and well… or otherwise, since the eight dragons had left, never to return. Star smiled to herself as she poured water from the hose into their near-empty bird bath. '_Never to return_' was so cliché, but it was true… sort of.

She checked her three little dragon-friends, apparently sunning themselves on the roof, and smiled again. It was not the same veiled, amused half-smile she had just had on her face; it was a smile content and happy with an unshared secret.


	5. The Crossing

_Disclaimer_: I don't own anything/anyone from the Pern world books. I do own most of the characters in this story and anything else not from the original series.

Chapter Four:_ The Crossing_

That evening, Star decided to go for a walk on the beach. Somehow, though the summer camp had been mostly about swimming at the beach, she wanted to go right _now_. She glanced suspiciously up at the ceiling, where her little dragons still perched on the roof, enjoying the last of the afternoon sun.

_They_ wanted to go.

She sighed and shook her head, an indulgent smile on her face. "Mom?" she called.

"We're in the kitchen!" her father called back. Michael Jefferson had returned home a few hours ago, said hello to his daughter and taken his wife downstairs. Probably to talk about some random, boring facet of his work day, Star thought.

She pulled on her mid-shin high boots and grabbed her windbreaker, already wearing a light sweater. It wasn't all that cold, but she knew that down on the beach it would be, with the winds. "I'm going down to the beach for a while," she called as she opened the door.

Before they could answer she was outside. Shadows all but covered the ground as clouds obscured the sunset. She cautioned her dragons again to stay hidden, but she needn't have worried. Some blocks farther on she came to the beach. But it wasn't right. It was sandy. She –well, the little dragons, for she hadn't wanted to come down here in the first place– wanted a rocky one.

That was as easily said as done. She simply headed down the beach.

Some short walk later she came to the rocky section and half-leapt, half-climbed down the boulders to the partially rock-covered low-tide beach. Star checked for people carefully, and found no one. She hadn't expected to. Glad she had anticipated the icy winds off the water, she huddled into her coat and sat down on a rock, then called her dragons.

Nivi appeared first, his bronzy wings fanning extraordinarily cold air down on her and eyes whirling and glowing. Elzin's blue tail touched her ear, making her jump, but he and green Vanya cheeped apologetically. They darted around, seemingly licking deep into the holes in the rather porous rocks and barnacles.

Vaguely she sat and let her mind wander, watching them. Suddenly she pulled up her sleeve and checked her watch. 9:00. "Uh-oh," she whispered. _Come here! _She called her friends. _We have to go right now!_

They came streaking up to her and she gave them the impression of flying high above her. She dashed up the rocks, stiffer because of her long vigil on the rock and rushed towards home as fast as she could. Far up in the sky she could sense her dragons effortlessly keeping pace.

It was when she rounded a corner to turn down into the alley shortcut she knew that she also sensed the people. There was one ahead and one behind. The alley had no doors, just the fences and the backs of houses. She slowed, hearing her followers slow as well, but not soon enough. A large form blocked the alley behind her, and another blocked it before her.

Both advanced.

Never had she felt so stupid for not listening to her mother and taking a dark shortcut! The gap between the dark people and herself closed steadily, until she could dimly see in the dark that only their eyes showed. The rest was covered in dark clothing.

She clenched her fists. "What do you want?" she demanded, more bravely than she felt when, they were ten feet away. "They'll all hear if I scream," she told the dark people. They stalked towards her. Before she could gather breath they were on her. One clapped a hand over her mouth, and grabbed her back, holding her, as the other took a knife out and laid it against her throat.

"Don't scream," he said. She did, but not so they would hear. Star screamed for her dragons for all she was worth. At the same time as they came shrieking down to rake and rend her attackers, she lashed out with both legs, hitting the man with a knife in the crotch and leg. Her sudden change of weight forced the one holding her to drop her on the ground.

"What are those things? They're all over the place!"

"What'd she do to us?"

Her little dragons shrieked as they chased her assailants away. When they were gone, the teenager relaxed and felt tears run down her cheeks as she slumped, quivering, on the rough, cold cement. She heard the little dragons return and thanked them whole-heartedly.

They crooned from her shoulders in her ear. They had only been doing their duty to her, as they saw it. She got up, feeling the need to run. Suddenly she was barreling down the alley, away from everything hurtful and nasty, feeling as though she could leave the horrors of her world behind.

Suddenly, recklessly, she laughed and called to the dragons, daring them to out-fly her. They exploded out above her, chirping, though softly, as they raced alongside her. Star just barely remembered to be quiet as she dashed past the buildings and into a playfield and baseball diamond.

The wind streamed past her, and she laughed as the dragons cried out their joy. She called them again, teasing them, and pushed herself to even greater speeds, which they matched. Nearing the end of the field, she turned slightly, and when she straightened out ran along the other way, at right angles to her first dash.

Never had she felt so alive! The world was gone, leaving her and her dragons flying alone above everything.

Star opened her mind and called once more, her mental voice thundering in her blood, heart, ears and mind. A shadow overtook her and she slowed, nearly tripping. She stumbled to a halt, just keeping on her feet.

A voice intruded in her mind, not that of her little dragons, but ageless and greater, far greater. And, she would remember later, seemingly amused.

_There's no need to shout, _the voice told her gently. _I'm here. You called; I answered,_ said the green dragon as she settled herself on the field.

_I am Joozith._

Those great blue-and-yellow-splashed eyes blinked as Joozith picked up her little cousins' distress. _They say you are frightened. Of me? _The eyes became more yellow and orange than blue or green now. _You have been attacked! You must come._ She raised her head to look at the sky and rumbled, then keened shortly.

_Pralosa needs me! Come! I must go to her, and you should come until the danger has passed; it is not over! See!_

There was no disputing her words, especially when shouts of fear and anger followed her across the field. Without thinking of the consequences, acting on the impulse of the green dragon's words, Star raced over to her shoulders. She clumsily swung up and clung to one of the neck 'spines', seated between two of them-

And then they were airborne.

Seattle glittered with lights as she and her wonderful new friend soared higher and higher in the sky, feeling the chill of the wind as she clung to the dragon.

All light suddenly went out. Cold more intense than she had ever felt sapped her strength. Star cried out, reaching with her mind, for her body was gone. She strained for anything to hold on to, and pulled herself and the dragon forward.

**Pern**

There was light, suddenly, all around her, light… and _heat_.

A clear blue-green ocean spread around them. Her fire lizards chattered and dove down to keep up with Joozith and their human. Confused, she looked around, still clinging to the dragon's neck ridge. Now the great dragon slowed, gliding in on something Star couldn't see from behind her neck.

Joozith banked and wafted her wings. Now Star could see they were approaching land. As they sped closer she could see five people on the heat-pounded shore, and an enormous silver dragon beside them. Once they were near enough, Star could see the confusion – and fear? Was it fear there? – in their eyes as they stared at her.

"Uh-oh," she whispered.


	6. Following the Yellow Brick Road

_Disclaimer_: I don't own anything/anyone from the Pern world books. I do own most of the characters in this story and anything else not from the original series.

Chapter Five: _Following the Yellow Brick Road_

Star slowly slid off Joozith's neck and landed on the sand with a soft jolt. "Umm… hello," she said uncertainly.

"Joozith!" one of them cried softly. She dashed suddenly out of the small cluster of people and hugged the green dragon's muzzle. Star nodded. That would be her bonded friend, whatever they called themselves.

"You're Pralosa, then," she said to confirm. They looked at her, eyebrows furrowing.

"Yes…" The girl named Pralosa drew out the word suspiciously, "do I know you?"

"I don't think so. Joozith told me." The teenager indicated her friend and flicked her hair back over her shoulders. She noticed them staring at the blue streak in the black. "I just dyed it," she informed them.

"You said… Joozith spoke to you? You heard her?" One of the young women in the group stepped forward now and frowned.

"We talked a little, yes, but I can only hear her if she wants me to or isn't paying attention; I think when she really doesn't want to talk to me she can keep me from hearing, like when she was greeting you. I knew she was talking, but I couldn't understand her. Although I don't think my dragons can block me out."

"_Dragons_?!" The two who spoke placed special emphasis on the plural. "How many do you _have_?" one of the young men asked.

"Only three," she said, and looked up to call down Nirvana, Vanya and Elzin, "and not the big ones like yours." Green Vanya landed on her outstretched arm, though blue Elzin and bronzy Nivi chirped as they fluttered around her head.

"Fire lizards," the young woman who had asked if she had spoken with Joozith corrected. "They're fire lizards, the ancestors of the dragons."

Star didn't say anything, but stroked Vanya's wing, producing a croon out of the little creature. Then she grinned, looking up at the silver dragon, and chuckled slightly to herself.

"Vanya, I _really_ don't think we're in Kansas, or Seattle, any more."

The girl, just a year or two older than Star herself, chuckled along with her and a young man of the same age near her. "No, you're definitely not." She jerked her thumb at everyone in turn as she named them.

"That's S'pilron, blue Dizith's dragonrider, C'nam, bronze Gamrith's rider, Tristan, rider of bronze Kurith. Joozith and Pralosa you know already. I'm Jessica, Jess, rider of Vailath the silver. Me'n Tristan were originally from Earth; we were the other two on the back of the first gold dragon who crash landed there. All of us here, plus some others from the Weyr – the dragons' home–" she amended, "were there the second time around."

Feeling a little overwhelmed at the fancy titles and such prestigious company, Star looked down. "My name's Star… not a dragonrider, but I guess a fire lizard and dragon friend, for what it's worth." She tickled her green Vanya's stomach to hide her embarrassment and confusion.

Jessica's friend, the one she had called the rider of bronze Kurith, Tristan, spread his arms wide in a gesture that took in all of where they were with a broad smile and addressed her theatrically with a bow.

"Welcome to Nais Weyr, of Pern, Star Dragonsfriend."

000

"There's something I still don't understand," Pralosa commented as they walked down the beach. Star had already told them briefly about the events she had been present at, from the day so long and so soon ago at camp, when she had found the eggs, to the way Joozith had arrived and borne her to Pern. "How did you call Joozith?"

Star shook her head mutely, steadying Vanya on her shoulder with one hand while the other two fire lizards glided above her, chirping a conversation. "I don't know." She hesitated, then gave a guess. "It might have had something to do with the dra- the fire lizards," she amended. "Maybe they called Joozith." She looked quizzically back and to the right at the dragon following the small party.

As before, the green dragon was vague. _You called, I came, _was all she would say on the matter.

"Very specific, wonderfully detailed," the teenager grumbled, "helped a bunch."

Jessica snorted, as if hiding a laugh, while some of the others smiled. She turned to frown at Star, though they all kept going. "You heard her, then?"

"Like not everyone did," she scoffed, grinning at the silver dragon's rider. "She's so much clearer than mine." Vailath snorted and reached forward with her head and neck to halt the group. She lowered her eyes so she gazed straight into Star's.

_She hears us very well,_ she commented to Jess.

"Clear as a bell," reported Star.

The silverrider and bronzerider groaned. Jess commented to Tristan dryly. "Poor Lessa. She must be having fits to see how many people like that there are back in time on Earth."

"There was only two, you know," commented one of the young men.

"Back in _time_?" Star exclaimed, staring at the two, just as another voice called out,

"Not angry in the least!"

"Time," confirmed S'pilron, then he turned to see who had called out. Two people were coming towards the group. Vailath and Joozith stepped forward to greet them, then skirted the pair and went further up the beach. One of them was a short woman with braided hair and a fierce face, the other a tall, amiable looking man with a wide grin and graying brown hair, whose eyes were startling amber. Both were peeling off jackets as they went and carrying helmets and goggles of some kind.

"Weyrwoman Lessa," murmured Jess and bowed slightly to the older, shorter woman as the others did the same, Star a little behind them.

The woman stopped and looked at Star piercingly. "So you're the one who sent the call," she remarked.

Uncertainly, the teenager nodded. "I guess so. My lady- Weyrwoman Lessa," she added belatedly, remembering that the others spoke of her with respect and reverence. "I'm Star… from Earth."

"Oh, trust me," the short, fierce woman said, laughter making her less forbidding. "I know." The smile faded and she beckoned to the girl to follow. Jessica started forward. "I'm not going to bite her," growled Lessa, not unkindly, "but we do need to talk. This girl –a human like us– sent out a call for aid not only across worlds and _time_, but even to another sensitive human. Only dragons and fire lizards have yet been able to call to humans, and we only to them, though the dragons do speak amongst themselves."

She smiled wryly, half a grimace of annoyance and continued. "We cannot ignore this. We shouldn't have ignored this as long as we have; you young people from Earth crossing so many times to here, Pern, all at once after so many centuries of peace. It must be addressed."

"I've seen the Munchkins," she muttered to herself as she stepped forward, with only Jessica to hear. "Now I want to click my heels and go back home. There's no place like home."

Swallowing hard, Star followed her to a waiting dragon, a gold, larger than any she had seen before.

"There's no place like home. There's no place like home."

But Oz couldn't be wished away so easily now, for her, and she could only follow the yellow brick road to wherever it led her- hopefully to the wizard who would send her home.


	7. Benden Weyr

_Disclaimer_: I don't own anything/anyone from the Pern world books. I do own most of the characters in this story and anything else not from the original series.

Note: "Niquii" is pronounced NEE–KWEE

Chapter Six: _Benden Weyr_

Not to Lessa's surprise, Star had quite a lot of trouble climbing onto Ramoth, considering the size of the queen dragon. Vanya fell off her shoulder and complained loudly as Star pulled herself up with the riding straps, grabbing hastily to the Weyrwoman's hand and swinging up behind her. Ramoth rose to her feet, Mnementh next to her, and they took off beside each other.

Hard winds tore at the queen's two passengers, and, taking Lessa by surprise, Star gripped Ramoth with her knees only, flinging her arms in the air and yelling like she was on a roller coaster. "Faranth's shell, hold on, girl!" the Weyrwoman screamed back to her over the rushing winds. "You'll get blown off!"

Inwardly, though, she was pleased that the stranger was enjoying the flight so much on her dragon and grinned as she lectured her young passenger. "Sorry," the teenager called, and once more gripped Lessa's belt. "That was pretty dumb, but it was really fun!"

When they had gained sufficient altitude, Lessa saw F'lar give the signal to go _between_. She shouted a warning to Star and gave Ramoth the image of the Weyr. The young woman froze as they went _between_. Somehow the teleportation farther between both time-wise as well as geographically had seemed much _shorter_. Weird. Perhaps because she knew what it was like and wasn't trying to get through it soon, and let it take the three coughs Lessa had said it would, rather than reaching out to pull through. But she had no time to puzzle over it because they were finally out again, and not quite warm, but at least not as cold as wherever they had just been. She shivered and hunched her shoulders, still wondering why the last trip had been worse than this short one.

"It's warmer inside," Lessa spoke in her normal voice as they slowed for the decent. On top of the cliffs surrounding the huge crater they were circling down into, a blue dragon bugled a welcome, which the gold and bronze returned. Star suddenly gasped as she saw the enormity of the Weyr for the first time. The walls were taller, she was willing to bet, than the space needle, and pocked with landing spaces leading into caves- like the one they were making for.

Mnementh pulled back to allow his mate to go first. Ramoth and Lessa nodded to him at the same time, nearly making Star giggle through her chattering teeth. Suddenly the gold dragon beat her wings harder, driving them up into the air, and then folded them and dove, rippling in a wavelike motion. Unable to restrain herself, Star whooped and once more let go. She threw her arms up in the air and grinned.

Then Ramoth back winged to land neatly on her ledge, and moved aside for Mnementh. F'lar said something to his dragon they were too far away to catch. The effects were immediate.

The bronze twisted about, turning his tail to Lessa, Star and Ramoth, then he looped the loop backwards, wings folded, twice, as he plummeted towards the ground. They suddenly popped back up, apparently having gone _between_ to get there, mere feet away from the ledge, scarcely back winged and settled, driving clothes and hair flapping all over the place.

"Don't you ever do that again!" cried Lessa, launching herself from beside Ramoth at F'lar and Mnementh. The bronze rumbled, eyes whirling in distress at having upset her, his Weyrwoman and rider of his gold mate, but also grinning like a fool at having pulled it off. "Not only could the weyrlings have seen you, but Mnementh's not as agile as he was! _All_ of us are getting-"

They all knew her next word was to be 'old'. Then she closed her mouth, took a breath to calm down, and composed herself. "Let's all go inside." She turned to sweep past all of them and into the weyr, face troubled as she passed Star.

F'lar grinned at Star as they followed Lessa into the weyr. Nivi, Vanya and Elzin followed, peeping. Ramoth grumbled. "You may want to leave them outside," he commented. "Lessa's not… overly fond of them since T'bor tried to steal the queen egg. I'm sure they're hungry; never met one who wasn't, especially only recently hatched."

Right on cue, Elzin peeped and sent his and the other fire lizards' hunger at her. "Don't say 'I told you so', please," the girl requested firmly when the bronzerider opened his mouth.

F'lar grinned and bowed slightly. "Actually, I was going to suggest you send them down with a message to Niquii. She has one of her own, a brown, and he's pretty mature, so I'm sure she wouldn't mind taking on a few more for an hour or two."

"You're sure they wouldn't be in the way?" Star held on to Vanya anxiously, and they stopped.

"I believe the translation here is, 'does Niquii know how to take care of four lizards?'" He crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall, mock stern, frowning but smiling in his eyes. She looked down, thankful she didn't blush easily.

"No! Well, yeah."

"Let me assure you that we have been taking care of fire lizards at Bendan Weyr for longer than either yours, or you, have been alive." He grinned at her again.

"And there are still people who never get tired of those little flitters," called Lessa from down in the weyr. "They'll be taken care of; there's no shortage of feeders at a Weyr. I've got a message for Niquii here. She knows more about fire lizards and dragons than any candidate has in a long time."

"Candidate for the clutch of eggs, a junior queen's. They're set to hatch pretty much any time now, tomorrow or the next day, maybe," explained F'lar as Lessa came up to them with a harness and a small tube with something inside it.

The Weyrwoman explained to Star how to attach the harness on her fire lizard. "Bronze'll do fine. Blues and greens, fire lizard or dragon, are disasters with messages unless they have a queen, a gold, to guide them." For a minute the girl frowned, then gently grabbed Vanya, gave her a dime from her pocket, set her on her arm, launched her out the weyr and told her to go to the lake, drop the coin near the water and return.

A few seconds later, while Lessa and F'lar stared at her, trying to decide something to say, the green popped back in and landed on Star's arm again. "Thank you, Vanya, would you mind going back to get it?"

It took her about ten seconds to bring it back. With the little fire lizard on her arm, the coin in her hand, Nivi and Elzin circling and cheeping, she bowed to the dumbstruck Lessa. "I believe my point is made, Weyrwoman Lessa, Ramoth's rider of Benden Weyr," she said in a prim I-told-you-so tone. "Sorry," she added. "But Vanya's just… I don't know, more like me than the others. She's sassy, disrespectful… you name it, we got it."

A minute later, she launched Vanya again, this time having Elzin and Nivi follow, and told her to go to Niquii, with the brown fire lizard. Mnementh had already given Niquii's face to Vanya.

"It has been… a long time –never, actually– since I have seen a green, or brown, blue or even bronze fire lizard, for that matter, perform that swiftly," said Lessa slowly. "I don't think any could have done that without directions from a queen fire lizard."

Star shrugged, feeling a little uncomfortable. _This little one is very special,_ commented Ramoth to her rider, _and her fire lizards are made more capable because of her talent._

"Oh, thank you," laughed the girl, mock glaring up at the huge golden dragon, "thank you ever so much." She didn't notice the glance exchanged between the adults, nor did she realize she had once again overheard a dragon's voice without it being specifically directed at her.

000

"We do not know how Joozith of all the dragons of Pern heard you. We see no connection. Furthermore, you also managed to contact me as well."

"I did?" asked Star.

"You are the first human able to mentally reach another of us," she added. The Weyrwoman regarded Star calmly. She fidgeted, afraid she had done something wrong. After a while it became clear they were waiting for her to say something.

"I don't know how I did it," she said at last, haltingly. "I didn't even know I _did_. It was really weird, I don't think I tried to call or hear any of them, or you," she added, looking at Lessa. "Should I try again now?"

"If you would allow us a demonstration?" requested F'lar. Star nodded nervously.

"Try Ramoth first," Lessa suggested, gesturing in the direction of her dragon's weyr. "I'll see what I can do to guide you, but won't have her initiate the conversation, just… sort of keep an 'ear' open for you."

Star swallowed nervously, then closed her eyes and stared off to the side at the floor. _Ramoth?_ She thought hesitantly. _Do you copy? Houston we have a problem… Earth calling Ramoth…!_

_Houston? Copy?_ The dragon sounded confused. _Why would Earth call me?_

_Never mind, but it means 'do you hear me?' Thank you!_ Star opened her eyes. "Got 'er!" she reported happily to the Weyrfolk.

"'Houston'?" asked Lessa with a crooked grin. "I was listening in," she explained. "Your people have such interesting and intriguing speech."

"Thanks," muttered Star.

"Perhaps you could try finding me now?" she suggested. "Would Ramoth and Mnementh need to help?"

For answer, Star held out a mental hand to the dragons. They took it up and gave a shining bridge in her mind to Lessa. _Nope, don't think so, _the girl thought.

Her mind was wrenched away abruptly as Lessa gasped and shook her head. "You okay?" asked Star nervously. What if she had hurt the Weyrwoman?

"That… was very powerful," she commented when she regained her senses.

"Sorry…" Star's voice was very soft in her apology.

"No, it is all right," she was told. "I just was listening a little too hard when I didn't need to." Lessa smiled at her. "I think we're going to have a fun time exploring what all you and I, and the dragons, can do mentally."

"Oh, splendid," the teenager muttered under her breath, but they heard anyway. "Chores, and here I am on vacation in Hawaii." The adults chuckled, and she grinned ruefully, apologizing. "But, really, I have to be getting home now. My parents will be worried." She rose. "Do you think Ramoth or Mnementh or Joozith could bring me back? I've been gone much longer than I intended."

"Are you sure?" asked Lessa. She and F'lar traded looks.

"Yes."

"I don't see why you can't stick around for a few days. We can always, no matter how much time has passed, bring you back to the same hour, or any hour that day, that you left." Lessa met Star's eyes.

About to scoff at the suggestion of time travel, the girl rethought it. After all, she had three little fire lizards, had ridden two dragons, a green and a gold, teleported, spoken to many dragons, and Lessa, through telepathy and had sent her own fire lizards between in teleportation faster than any had before, according to the Weyrwoman. Against that, who was to say the dragons couldn't teleport her home not only Where but When as well?

"To the same minute I left?" she asked suspiciously, just to hear them say it. They nodded. "All right, then." But she would still miss her family.

_We know,_ the combined voices of Mnementh and Ramoth told her, a_nd we will always be here for you._

_As will the fire lizards,_ added Mnementh alone, _and all the dragons of Pern._

From every weyr in Benden a fierce chorus of affirmations greeted her.


	8. Remembered, Unremembered

_Disclaimer_: I don't own anything/anyone from the Pern world books. I do own most of the characters in this story and anything else not from the original series.

Chapter Seven: _Remembered, Unremembered_

Star was introduced to many people that day, from Manora the Headwoman of the Weyr's kitchen cavern, to the Weyr's Harper, a Journeyman named Sijlon, to F'nor , rider of brown Canth and the first person who had journeyed to the infamous Red Star. Later she was ushered into the Weyrling barracks and met Niquii, the girl who had been taking care of her fire lizards.

The Candidate for the Junior Queen's clutch smiled when she saw her and came forward, hand outstretched, a brown balancing on her shoulder. Vanya shrilled and dove at Star, latching her green talons in the teenager's black-dyed hair, grasping mostly the single blue streak, and throttling her with her tail. Blue Elzin and bronze Nivi fought for a place on her remaining shoulder as their human shook the offered hand until Elzin landed on her arm and clung them, grumbling to himself. Looking quite smug, Nivi settled into place on her shoulder and flipped his wing to his back.

Star grinned at Elzin. "Tricky," she commented, then addressed Niquii. "Thanks for taking care of them." The other girl waved it off.

"I don't mind. Disaster liked squabbling with someone new. He kept giving me outlandish images from them."

'Oookay, good time to change the subject, Star,' she thought to herself. "'_Disaster'_?" she asked, trying not to smile.

Niquii sighed. "You probably don't want to know the whole thing. Basically I tripped over him and some of his clutch mates when I and my family were fleeing the tsunami; we lived at Tillek, then, then we went to Ruatha, then I was Searched last Impression, but didn't get chosen, so here I am."

Not much in the flood of information made an impression on her ('Tillek and Ruatha? Are they cities? Does searching mean like search-and-rescue? And what's an Impression? Whatever it is, it sounds important. Can anyone 'Impress'? Or is it something you're born with? And why would I want to?')

But one thing stood out: _tsunami_. This girl had been in a tsunami. "Tsunami?" Her voice squeaked and trembled as she remembered, and didn't notice anything, neither her white face nor wide, empty, pale eyes which were not red despite the tears that gathered in them and spilled over. She took two paces and sat down hard on a chair, her world going blank as she remembered.

_Flashback_

(A/N: This is a fictitious tsunami in a real place, Ocean Shores, on the coast of Washington )

Her parents were calling for her, and she for them, but they couldn't hear her over the cries of other people. The family Ocean Shores beach trip was turning into a nightmare. Their hotel, the Shilo Inn, was in havoc as people fled the tsunami that was rapidly approaching. Six-year-old Star had been buying a gumball from a talking, noise-making machine when the man had come barging in, yelling about the approaching tsunami.

He had pulled the fire alarm and the hotel had broken into chaos. In the deafening confusion Star had run the other way from her parents. People were all racing for the doors, but she had ducked away from the stampede, eyes wide, while her parents were swept along.

At last they were nearly gone and the last few stragglers were hurriedly rushing outside. "Mommy!" she wailed, coming after them. She had partial amnesia for the next long time, days or hours she didn't know, but the next thing she remembered was being very hungry and kind-faced men bringing her to her parents.

She had been lost and alone in the horror of the after-tsunami in Ocean Shores for three days, she was told later.

For a year she had nightmares.

For two after that she had been fiercely hydrophobic.

For another year she had been less so, but still afraid.

_End of flashback_

It had taken her fully those four long years, until she was ten, to be able to go near large bodies of water, and until she was twelve to fully recover and hide the memories deep where she would never find them again, or so she had thought.

000

Star jerked and inhaled sharply, coming out of her memories, then closed her eyes again and leaning forward in the chair she still sat in, held her head in her hands, taking slow deep breaths. She had to push the memory of what she could not remember away. If she tried to remember what she had lost, could not remember for some reason, she might go mad with the long, dark blankness in her mind.

After a little she at up and looked around. Lessa, F'lar, Niquii and two other people, a strangely familiar man with F'lar's eyes and brown hair who must be related and a woman with red-brown hair and blue-green eyes, were looking at her with concern. Benden's Weyrwoman held her hand, while Niquii cradled her green fire lizard Vanya, who appeared to be traumatized, the strange woman carried an unconscious bronze, Nivi, and the other man had blue Elzin.

"Are you all right?" the strange woman asked. Nivi stirred and she looked down. "They became very agitated, broadcasting wild images of lots of water, and strange buildings, and something she –or you, I suspect,– _couldn't_ remember, because it wasn't there anymore, in your memories."

"Not just your fire lizards, either," the unnamed man told her. She suddenly remembered him as F'nor, F'lar's half brother. "Canth and I were out on the beach with Grall" his gold fire lizard was perched on his shoulder, surveying the room imperiously, "and they both suddenly leap up, Canth scarcely waits for me to get on his back when he whisks us back here, and lands right outside here. You'll find quite a commotion in the Weyr, as a result of your cry, you know."

"Cry?..." She was a little dazed and confused. "Did I scream?" she asked herself quietly. "Again? After I thought it was all gone? It's only been a couple of years…"

"A few years since what?" Star shook her head to clear it, then looked at the strange woman.

"What? Oh… since the tsunami…" She thought on it again, and was jerked away by a shrill screech and a pain on her ear. Vanya's tail was wrapped abound her neck, and she had apparently bitten the human's ear as well as shrieking in it. "I'm sorry," she whispered, stroking the green fire lizard and then giving the same attention to her blue and bronze, who sat on her lap.

Star looked up at the people around her. "I was in a tsunami when I was very young," she explained. "It– took me a while to recover."

_Don't think on it! Just forget._ That was unmistakably Mnementh.

_Stay with us now,_ put in someone she didn't know, a light female.

_Forget!_ called a mature, experienced male. _I had to, so it will be better for you as well._ She knew it was Canth when she heard this, because of his trip to the Red Star, or Planet.

_We're here with you,_ another unknown told her. _All of us. Always._

_We love you; we won't let you go into the blackness,_ Ramoth said firmly. _All of us will hold you. We won't let you go._

"Oh, I know," she assured them. "The dragons," she explained to the others, who looked at her oddly. She and Lessa suddenly chucked together. "Ramoth just told Mnementh that it might just take all of them to hold me if I'm stubborn and try to remember past my amnesia. I'd say it would." Then her voice changed grimly. "Don't worry. I won't try that again; I learned to forget a long time ago, I just didn't remember… not to remember." That didn't sound right to her. "Probably doesn't make much sense, but never mind. I've never made much sense. To anyone, including myself and my parents!" She grinned, but her smile faded into panic.

"Oh, god, my _parents_! They've probably called Search 'n Rescue by now- I've got to get back!" She tried to spring from her chair, but Lessa pushed her back. "I was late already; I'm probably overdue by like six hours!"

"No matter when you leave here, you'll be back in less time than you left. You say you were late; when we bring you back, we can fix that, put you back before you were ever late." Star stared at her, not comprehending, and the Weyrwoman chuckled. "You have no idea how late you really are- Pern is several thousand years ahead in time from when you lived! When you called Joozith, you also summoned her through _time_ as well as a vast breach in space."

"Oh." Star sat down again and looked down at her lap. For some reason, now, after having three fire lizards, summoning a dragon and then going flying with them, the idea of time-travel suddenly didn't seem all that far-fetched. "Pretty cool," she told them, "can't wait to check it out."

They looked at each other, some smiling, some confused, most both. "I mean, that's um… it's- good, and I can't wait to see it," the teenager translated. "Whacked place," she said to herself. "These dudes here are way old-fashioned." 'Or, according to their time-warp theory, incredibly new-fashioned.' She knew that didn't make any sense, even in her own mind, but she didn't care.

"So, what's next?" Star looked around at the various assembled people with a grin. "Don't tell me you also have phoenixes and griffins!" 'Dragons and phoenixes and griffins, oh, my!' she thought, referencing _The Wizard of Oz_.

The adults looked at each other. "No animals by that name."

Suddenly the teenager peered intently into the strange woman's face. She'd seen a lot of people that day at the Weyr, but she couldn't remember this woman. "Are you… a Benden Dragonrider?" she asked.

"Faranth's Shells!" She looked startled, then slightly amused. "At my own Weyr a girl doesn't know me!" She held out her hand, grinning. "Raia, Goldrider of Milath, Weyrwoman here at Benden. I know the final Pass finished near on a century ago, but you'd think three Weyrwomen and their Weyrleaders wouldn't be too much to remember."

About to grasp Raia's hand Star froze, looking between the two women who both claimed to lead Bended Weyr, Lessa and Raia. Then realization hit.

"Oh, God, I did it again," she muttered to no one in particular.


	9. Time it Right

_Disclaimer_: I don't own anything/anyone from the Pern world books. I do own most of the characters in this story and anything else not from the original series.

Chapter Eight: _Time it Right_

"Just- how long did you say Thread's been gone?" Despite the tension in her face Lessa's voice was calm. Star was just glad the Weyrwoman from _this_ time had understood, because the Weyrwoman apparently from the future probably wouldn't. Or would she?

Raia looked at her, confused. "Ninty-five Turns, or thereabout. What's going on here? If you're here in Benden Weyr you ought to know that. And Milath says you're a dragonrider as well!" Her eyes unfocused, like Star had noticed rider's did when they spoke to their dragons. She frowned and continued slowly. "And a queenrider? Are you new? No, I haven't heard of any recent Hatchings… It's been a long time since a queen rose, and I'd know if they did…"

Lessa and F'lar looked at each other, then back at Raia. "Welcome to the near end of the Ninth and final Pass of Thread, Raia, Rider of Gold Milath, future Weyrwoman of Benden Weyr," the bronzerider said dryly.

Star leaned forward and put her head in her hands, groaning. "Oh, this is going to be _sooooooooo_ hard to explain…" she muttered.

000

After two hours, during which they met two riders from other times, N'zir and his blue Kairth and Greenrider of Borth Yolia, who had all waited, confused, outside, and the currents Bended Weyrleaders had explained everything, they began to discuss ways to get home again. Pralosa and her green Joozith had been 'summoned' also, as well as Jessica, rider of the only silver dragon, and Tristan, a bronzerider, both who explained to Star that they had come forward in time too, and had wanted to stay.

Lessa suggested that the dragons be given star coordinates for the three rider's different futures, and they requested and received star-maps. Then several of the began charting the course of the stars for their Turns. N'zir, from the past, was utterly confused, for his Turn, as best as they could figure, was during the time when Bended was a lone, scorned Weyr. He sat on a chair, thinking. Jora and Nemoth had just Impressed in his When, and he was shocked and disgusted to see all that Benden could have been. His blue Kairth was just as horrified.

Yolia and her green Borth were not from too far ahead; in fact, a younger girl called Yolia was a Candidate for the next Hatching. She requested that she stay to see her younger self Impress, and said that in her past nothing had been out of the ordinary and she recalled that on her Impression Day she had been greeted and complimented by a strange, familiar woman who then hurried away and she never saw again nor found out her name. Lessa and F'lar said that if that had been the case in her Past, their Present, then it must be so now, and consented.

Raia looked around her Benden Weyr, and confessed to the Present Weyrwoman that she could enjoy being to a Hatching, and seeing an Impression before she went. So all three were to stay, secret and out of contact, in the most remote parts of the Weyr.

"You know," Star commented when she, Lessa and F'lar were again seated alone in their personal weyr, "I really don't like time-travel. Not one bit." She was leaning her chin forward on her hands, propped up from the elbows on the table. "I'll never get used to it."

She sighed and reached out to touch her green fire lizard's wing. "All though I wouldn't miss these pretty things for the world." Star didn't notice as Lessa and F'lar traded looks.

"Do you think I could watch this Hatching thing? Or is it just for the friends and family of the people there?" This time she did see the Weyrleaders exchange glances, this time amused. "What?" she asked suspiciously.

"You may most certainly attend the Hatching," Lessa told her, trying not to smile, "but not as a guest; you are to stand on the Grounds as a Candidate for the eggs. You will make a wonderful Gold- or Greenrider, I'm sure."

For a minute Star just blinked. Then her face lit up and she stared at them. To- Impress? A dragon? It was more than she could have ever hoped for! To ride a dragon, like wonderful Ramoth or Joozith! To be bonded to a dragon for the rest of her days!

But suddenly her face fell. Her green, Vanya, crooned and rubbed her head along her human's jaw as blue Elzin and bronze Nivi watched, eyes spinning softly at her. They understood. However much she wished to be a dragonrider, she could not. Having three miniatures was bad enough –at least _they_ could stay hidden back in Seattle– but a full-sized dragon…

No. She loved her home and it would take more even than a dragon of her own to make her leave it.

"I- thank you, more than you can imagine," she began haltingly. "But I can't stay here. I belong on my own world, with my parents and friends. It will be enough if you would allow me to observe the Hatching."

For some moments none of them said any more. At last F'lar began to laugh. "You know, girl," he told her, still chuckling, "that is probably the first time I've heard a person flat-out refuse to become a dragonrider, especially at Benden Weyr!"

"It shall keep us humble," commented his Weyrwoman dryly.

"I'm sorry, but I can't leave my family," Star told her. "Please understand."

"We do," Lessa told her gently, still smiling crookedly. "But you see, here, on this world, there are so few people who would _not_ give almost anything and everything for the chance at Impression."

"I've got these things," Star waved at her three with an impish grin, "and that's _quite_ enough for me."

000

Star was told she could sleep in an empty weyr for the night. She curled up with her fire lizard friends and fell asleep, touching gently on the thoughts of the dragons of Benden Weyr.

000

It was early morning when she woke. There was no particular reason why she was waken, she just was. No alarm sounded, no crash from an unscrupulous cook; she was just slept out.

The teenager pocked her friends awake and they shifted enough so she could slide out away from them. Vanya looked up at her and cheeped, sending hunger thoughts at her mistress. "Uh-oh," commented the girl, and she headed out of the empty weyr at a trot, trying to put herself in order and not look like she had just rolled out of bed. Which was exactly what she had done.

Within a few minutes she was absolutely lost. She looked around, figuring the first step was to find a set of stairs that would lead her down, hopefully to the Bowl of the Weyr. The strange baskets of small lights, _Glows_, she remembered they were termed, lit her path, and after wandering around for a while found some stairs leading down.

After a short time, while she tried to keep her fire lizards quiet as they pressed her for food, she could hear someone coming up the steps. "Hello?" she asked hesitantly. A young woman, only a few years older than she was herself, came around the bend. "Excuse me, but do you think I could find someplace my fire lizards and I could get some breakfast?"

The elder girl looked at her strangely, then shrugged, stopping on the stairs and catching her breath for a moment before replying suspiciously. "You don't know how to find the Kitchen Caverns?"

"I'm… not exactly familiar with Benden Weyr." Star shifted from foot to foot impatiently. "We're not from here, and they're only just hatched, you see."

"Still… Anyway, down the stairs and down the corridor, the end empties out into the Weyr Bowl. You _do_ know how to get to the Kitchen Cavern from there?" When Star shifted uncomfortably she sighed. "Straight across the Bowl." The elder girl continued up the stairs past the younger, and Star went on her way down.

Star petted her fire lizards as she looked out from the end of the stairway and could see the outside. It was barely morning, she reflected. But perhaps today she could go home.

The night before she had been overwhelmed by homesickness, and only her fire lizards had kept her from depression. She desperately wanted to return home again as soon as may be. 'Assuming this whole time-travel thing's right, anyway. But as long as they get me back,' she decided, 'I don't really care what time they drop me off in.'

Then she shuddered and giggled. 'Within reason,' she thought. She didn't want to end up in the middle of the Jurassic Era, or during the last Ice Age. 'That would really, _really_, REALLY suck!'


	10. Breakfast Talk

_Disclaimer_: I don't own anything/anyone from the Pern world books. I do own most of the characters in this story and anything else not from the original series.

Chapter Nine: _Breakfast Talk_

The Bowl of Benden Weyr was huge. Star saw many openings lining the towering walls and wondered which one the kitchens were. Before she turned herself around completely she heard footsteps behind her and someone called her name, and turned to the speaker. Lessa grinned up at her. "You should have waited; we were just a few lengths behind you," F'lar told the teenager.

"You were?" They nodded. "Sorry, I didn't hear you."

"Obviously," the Weyrleader told her. Bronze Nivi creeled in her ear while blue Elzin chirped from overhead and green Vanya whistled at the dragonriders. Lessa and F'lar noticed, and hurried her across the huge bowl. "You'll find no shortage of help here today," F'lar told her. "With the Hatching due most people here won't mind in any way, shape, size or form feeding fire lizards, especially a bronze, like yours."

They reached the entrance to the Kitchen Caverns and the adults ushered Star inside. All three were given food and the brown drink everyone seemed to like. Yesterday she'd been given some and found she rather liked the almost peppermint hint in the hot coco-like brew. Few people were here as yet, and they found a good space. Taking and eager sip of the good, hot stuff, whatever it was, the teenager put her things down but didn't sit.

"Is there someplace I could get some food for the fire lizards?" Indeed all three were clustering near to the food of the three humans.

"Oh, yes, here; I'll show you." Lessa got up and went back the way they had come. "Do you think you could round up enough meat scraps for three recently hatched fire lizards?" she asked one of the women.

"Certainly, I'll bring it over to your table." The woman had scarcely glanced at Star, but she did a double-take. "Oh, my dear, you've some sort of dye in your hair! Are you apprenticed from the Weaver's Hall?"

Star blinked, and then grinned; the woman was referring to the blue streak in her hair. She fingered the blue lock a little selfconsciously. "It was an accident," she improvised with a wry smile. Anyone could make a mistake and she never _said_ just what kind of mistake it was or where, exactly, she made it.

Lessa steered her back to their spot, whispering to her, "You may want to find some way to hide that."

The teenager's first reaction was 'why?', but she saw why. Star smiled sadly to herself, homesick. Back home, individuality and being uniqueness, hair color, make-up style and clothes, was 'cool'. Standing out and being different was part of a teen's life, was important. She didn't put on make-up, and her clothes weren't _that _outlandish, but the little blue piece in her hair was just fun.

Well, maybe one didn't see an outfit like hers here on Pern, but it wasn't really all that odd back in Seattle. She examined her attire. Her light blue jeans had silver sparkles on the flares, from below her knees; they matched the large-linked silver chain belt she wore. She wore high-top blue Converse, top covered by her jeans, and two shirts. The under was a light blue spaghetti-strap top, the outer an overly-wide-necked blue long-sleeve shirt. Over both she wore an unzipped light-blue sweatshirt. All were slightly rumpled after she had slept in them.

Probably not the typical lady's wear here on Pern. Then again, Lessa and several other women had opted out of skirts and dresses for pants.

"Maybe I could wrap it with ribbon... or braid it with two other colors so it looks decorative but not really out of place." Her dubious face and voice made the Weyrleaders smile. Then she chuckled, fingering the blue streak again. In answer to their unvoiced questions she told them with a slight smile, "It's just that back home, being different from every one else, 'out of place', -even downright odd- is important; it preserves a sense of self, being our own person.

"Some people dress really, _really_ weird; they dye their hair in rainbows, put on the strangest clothes, pierce themselves in all sorts of places." Star looked at the Pernese adults for a minute. "Never mind, main point being: uniqueness is respected and valued. For people my age especially."

"If you say so." F'lar shrugged. "I see your point, but sticking out sounds like it would wear on one eventually; it seem a little... hard to maintain."

Star snorted, then giggled. "I guess you're right. But for some people, odd is normal." Prompted by a sudden burst of inspiration, she lifted the mug of the tasty brown liquid. "Take this stuff for example. For you this is every day, I've noticed. But I've never had it before." She took a sip. "It's real good, though. What's it called, anyway?"

"Klah," Lessa told her, amused.

"Claw..." Star sounded it slowly, lips twitching in amusement. "It does, just like a good strong Mocha," she added wryly. When they glanced at each other she snorted again. "And there we have another example," she told them, draining the mug.

000

After breakfast the Weyrleaders and their guest returned to the room they had spoken in the night before. Star nervously tickled her fire lizards as the adults sat down. "Is there some way I can get home soon?" she burst out anxiously. "Even if they won't miss me, if you say you can time it so I can get back before I was late, I miss them. I'm getting so homesick."

Lessa sighed. "Very well then, If you-" Suddenly she broke off, cocking her head to the side as if she were listening. Then she smiled and stood again. "Actually, if you could wait around for a while, we have a Hatching to attend."

Now Star could head the hum too. They had told her last night that the dragons would do this when the clutch was about to hatch. She grinned and when Lessa beckoned stepped quickly after the Weyrwoman as she and F'lar separated to catch a lift on their dragons. Ramoth's eyes whirled green and blue, tinged with the orange of excitement. _Hurry, little one!_ she urged the teenager.

_Coming! _ Lessa swung up first and Star after her. As soon as they were settled the huge golden dragon took the few strides to the ledge and they plummeted off the edge. Star gave a swiftly-cut off yelp and hung on to the Weyrwoman. Ramoth leveled off and the teenager sat up again as they headed straight for the wall of the Bowl. She sighed and relaxed as she realized they were heading for a hole in the wall, then she winced at the seemingly unavoidable crash in the making as dozens upon dozens of dragons flocked towards the same entrance. Blues, browns, many greens, not as many bronzes, no other queen dragons- then they were through the opening, without so much as grazing a wingtip on anyone or anything.

She gasped as she saw the eggs arrayed on the Sands. "Holly..." Ramoth banked and she tore her gaze away from the clutch to look around at the ranks and ranks of dragons on tiered seats rising far up the Hatching Grounds' walls. She saw few great bronzes, and, other than Ramoth and the queen crouched protectively by an egg set apart from the main bunch, only one gold dragon was seated. The absent bronzes were setting down white-robed young folk on the sands amid the rocking mottled shells.

Suddenly Ramoth was dropping, lowering down to the sands. Star only had time to gasp out a hasty "What the-" before the queen had wriggled in such a way that she was shaken off but Lessa was not discharged onto the hot sands. The crowed murmured at this, interested, shocked, and some completely confused. A queen did not come near the eggs of another gold, but she had. The Senior Gold Dragon of Benden Weyr had _dumped _someone to the Sands; someone well within Candidacy age who was _unwilling _to Impress a dragon hatchling, A person with blue-streaked hair!

"Hey!" the teenager cried, standing up and hopping in the hot sands. The blue streak in her hair flapped into her face and she pulled it away. _"Crazy dragon!"_ she said loudly, mind and voice. _"I'm _not_ going to Impress one of you, I just want to get the heck outta here and back _home_!"_

She could 'hear' Lessa speaking telepathically to the dragon, a frown on her face, but Ramoth addressed her as she sat on the benches. _You will be a good rider, little one._

"I just want to go home," Star whispered to herself, damp-eyed. That would be impossible with a dragon; however wonderful it would be to be a Dragonrider, she wanted to go home more. She backed against the wall, eyes closed, ignoring the looks of the white-robed young people around her who scurried to get close to the clutch of eggs. "Oooh, this is sooo wrong," she groaned to herself.


	11. Laiath

_Disclaimer_: I don't own anything/anyone from the Pern world books. I do own most of the characters in this story and anything else not from the original series.

Chapter Ten: _Laiath_

'I _can't _Impress a dragon. I will not. I am _not_ going to be a dragonrider.' Over and over Star chanted this and versions of it in her mind. 'Nono nono, nono NO. I am going home. To Earth, to Seattle. Where I _belong_...' With her eyes jammed as tightly closed as she could she couldn't see the hatching. 'Well it probably wouldn't hurt just to watch them...'

She opened her eyes and looked. Of the twenty-five or so eggs she could see five pairs walking off the Hatching Sands, a couple of pairs just finding each other, several lost-looking dragonets, two eggs cracking just now and scattered between these and egg shards were quite a few unhatched eggs. And there were many, many still, silent Candidates in their white robes.

Her gaze was drawn over to the largest of the eggs, the golden one, set by itself and guarded by the adult queen. A circle of three young women and two younger teenagers gathered around the golden egg. One of them, a shy girl of about thirteen, turned towards her, caught Star's eye. She looked small, not entirely sure of herself, but there was something in her face that Star couldn't place, a determination that surprised the unobserved watcher.

Her eyes were level, but she had no confidence in herself; she glanced at the ground more often than she looked at the cracking egg. _That is Fyia. She comes from here._ Star glanced up; without knowing how she spotted green Joozith, and smiled at the first full dragon she had known, the one who had brought here to this amazing place, to meet these amazing people. _But Ramoth is right. You are the right one for the queen hatchling; she cannot be the new Goldrider._

_Yes she can. _Star looked over at the younger girl. There was a spark in her that the teenager from Earth had seen in very few people; Lessa and F'lar had it, as did some of the other dragonriders. _She is to be a great Dragonrider, Joozith. I cannot be what you all wish me to be; I cannot join the ranks of the Dragonriders of Pern. Earth is my home and I will not leave permanently willingly. But Fyia is the right one for the new queen._

She had to ensure that Fyia would Impress. There was something in her face that made Star certain that this girl was the right one, an air about her of quiet power, a stern will but a gentle grace. Star strode towards the quickly jerking egg at a trot, oblivious to the people watching her.

The golden egg gave an enormous spasm and toppled over, splitting open and dumping a hatchling queen out on the hot sands. She squawked and stood up shakily, holding her head up with an I-meant-to-do-that attitude and looked around at the girls. She fixed her eyes on Star.

_No._

The gold dragonet reeled back from the unexpected rejection. Star knelt with a sigh when the hatchling trembled and tried to hide herself under her wings. _I'm sorry, young one,_ she told the queen. _But I cannot be your rider._

_Yes, you are,_ the little gold told her shyly, coming out from behind her wings.

_No, I'm not,_ she said again gently. _You didn't even look at these other girls; just went right to me because the older ones said so. _Star looked up at the ranks of dragons, looking into their eyes squarely as she sent her voice to them to.

_Simply because I can speak to you, you would not only prejudice a hatchling who would be forever _stuck_ with your decision you would disregard my family, and keep me here with you._

She looked down at the hatchling. _What is you name, little one?_ she asked.

The hatchling looked up at her with blue and green eyes. _I am Laiath,_ she said.

_Welcome to Benden Weyr, Laiath, queen dragon of Pern._ Star looked around for the girl who was so obviously, in her mind, destined to be the little gold's Rider. The younger girl was walking away, like most of the unsuccessful Candidates. She didn't seem either disappointed or glad. What had happened, had happened. It was neither bad nor good; it just was.

"Fyia!" she called, trotting back to her. The blond girl looked up, puzzled.

"Yes?" she asked.

"I didn't Impress her; I can't be her Rider." Perhaps a little tactless, but it got the point across. "You are. Laiath, come meet Fyia!" she called to the young gold who walked unsteadily behind her.

"But- but she gave you her name!" protested the Benden Weyr girl, stepping forward all the same. "That means you did Impress!"

"Name, yes. Heart, no." Star stood back, hands behind her, and watched as Fyia knelt and touched the gold dragonet's shoulder.

_Hello,_ she heard the little queen say.

_Hello,_ she heard the girl say.

Star sighed, smiling, and turned away from them. All at once she became aware of the silence. The only sound in the Weyr was the soft murmuring of the crowd. She looked up, frowning. They were all staring at her. With a groan she looked back at Fyia and Laiath. "So much for going incognito," she muttered, then glanced at Joozith, mentally calling to her. The green dragon spiraled down to land on the sands and the teenager swung up to her saddle, directing her out of the Hatching Grounds.

They caught sight of Raia, gold Milath's Rider, standing outside of the on-foot exit of the Sands, waiting to greet one or the other of the new riders most likely. Yolia, rider of green Borth, was shaking hands with a new female greenrider, likely her Present self. Then Fyia and her Laiath came out as Joozith lazily spiraled around in the air, neither gaining nor loosing altitude. Raia stepped forward to say hello.

Something was not right here, Star felt. She narrowed her eyes as Benden's Weyrwoman from the future spoke to the newly-Impressed pair. _Joozith, can we get closer?_ she asked. The green dragon let them drop until they could see Raia and the others clearly. Her gold, Milath, waited close by.

For some time they continued to circle, watching as Fyia fed her Laiath, Raia observing like a hawk. At last Star asked Joozith to land her, and crept up close, pretending to watch a new Bronzerider feed his friend. As soon as Laiath was finished, Raia moved in again, with Star listening intently.

"Here, can you come over here by Milath?" The elder gold leaned in close to peer at Laiath while Fyia looked up at her. None of them moved, and they did not appear to notice as Raia edged closer to her dragon's shoulder.

In a sudden swift move the Future Weyrwoman leapt up to her dragon's neck, and Milath shot forward to snatch Laiath and Fyia from the ground. Then the old queen vaulted skyward, but not before Star had lunged out and clung like a rat to the gold's arm.

The ground dropped away and the teenaged hung on. She screamed for all she was worth, calling all the dragons within her range to foil the hatchling-snatchers. Joozith was the first there, her eyes flaming orange and yellow, and she bellowed at Milath. Bronze Mnementh, Ramoth, the mother-queen and the remaining gold of Benden were only seconds behind, cadging in the thief from the future.

After Star had dropped free, onto Joozith's neck, her gold and bronze prison forced her to the ground and Star, with Lessa, F'lar and the other Bronze- and Goldriders who had gotten her, came forward, eyes glittering in fury.

_Let…_

_Her…_

_Go…_

**NOW.**

Milath shuddered and cringed from the power in Star's command. She dropped Laiath and Fyia and the teenager strode forward to stand directly between them. Star put her hand out to the new goldrider and helped her up. Fyia took a deep breath and she and her dragon were ushered away by Laiath's mother's Rider.

"We let you stay." Star's voice was deadly soft as she addressed Milath and Raia. "We thought you could be trusted."

"You don't understand!" the woman from the future cried.

"Then tell us!" challenged Star. Raia closed her eyes and bowed her head, then nodded slowly and dismounted from her dragon.

She slid down to lean against her queen's shoulder, taking a deep breath, and began her tale.


	12. Raia's Story

_Disclaimer_: I don't own anything/anyone from the Pern world books. I do own most of the characters in this story and anything else not from the original series.

Chapter Eleven: _Raia's Story_

"I told you when I first came here, although you might not remember," began Raia haltingly, "that there were but three Weyrleaders and Weyrwomen. And only my own Benden Weyr has another queen not too old to fly. On Pern there are left four mating queens, two of which, my own Mailath and her only golden daughter, Gahith.

"The only other surviving Weyrs, Southern and Telgar, have the Senior, and Southern has an elder queen too old to rise any more. None of the queens has risen for two Turns, and Gahith was the last new queen. She hatched over five Turns ago, and has only risen once. And the Weyrwomen of Southern and Telgar are both past their prime, aging quickly.

Raia closed her eyes in pain. "The dragon-queens are dying." Her eyes opened and she glared at the circle of listeners. "What would you do in my place?" she demanded. "I, my dragon and her daughter are the last who can be expected to carry farther the legacy of the dragons. If I could bring forward the granddaughter of the greatest queen dragon since the First Hatching, our purpose would be renewed again."

Now she looked at Fyia and Laiath. "I– I do not expect you to understand. Our treatment of you was– less than courteous, and whether you believe me or not, I am sorry." Raia looked down at her shaking hands, folding them in her lap.

"I have said what I will. Judgment is up to you. But I ask you once more: would you let the dragons die?

"Would you leave their fate to chance and not act if a chance was given? Would you let fade all that the Ancestors worked so hard to nurture and protect?"

No one had an answer for her.

"Would you?"

000

After some length of silence Star stepped forward and placed a hand on Milath's nose; the gold dragon's eyes were closed, her head lowered in shame. The teenager closed her own eyes and bowed her head, allowing her mind to slip into contact with the queen's, her black and blue hair spilling over her face.

Milath started, then relaxed, allowing the girl to share her memories.

Some time later she stepped back, hands falling to her sides. Still she didn't open her eyes, but stood, head bowed, silent and unmoving. At last she looked up and opened her eyes, meeting Raia's, aware of the others watching her.

"I believe you." Her voice was quiet. "A dragon's memories do not lie. And she had shown me both your sorrows and repentance." 'Dang, _that_ was about the most old-fashioned and dang _spooky_ thing I've ever said,' she thought.

"None the less," Lessa began sternly.

"None the less, she shouldn't have tried to take them," agreed Star, overriding the Present Weyrwoman. "Your reason was good, but you should have told us of your need. There are very few Turns left until the end of the Pass, as you call it–"

"Three. Three Turns until the Pass is done," F'lar told her, and Star nodded to him.

"But," she reminded herself, "it is up to the Weyrleaders of Laiath and Fyia to decide what will be. 'What say you?'" 'I've seen the Lord of the Rings too many times; I'm quoting it even on another world,' she thought wryly. (A/N: This is from the Return of the King)

Neither Lessa not F'lar said anything.

At last the Present Weyrwoman sighed. "Come to our weyr," she told the rogue dragonrider. "We'll talk there." Lessa turned away, and F'lar nodded to Raia, motioning with his hand for her to come, then turned to follow Lessa.

While they left and part of the crowd around dispersed, talking all the while, Star looked at Milath, silently asking if she would permit her to share their repentance with the dragons from this time. The gold dragon nodded, once more closing her eyes. _It would probably be best if you remained in the weyr you and Raia were using before._ Again the queen nodded.

"Go, my friend," Star told her. "'Be at peace'." 'Another quote from the Return of the King,' she thought. "You know well Raia will tell you all that comes, and I too, but she first because she will be the first to know your immediate fate. But I will let you know what happens around me, never fear."

With a last grateful blink Milath took flight, the wind of her passing making the teenager's hair and clothes flap. With a sigh Star turned away, and noticed the lingering people staring at her, she being to only one available to gawk at worth the effort of hanging their jaws open and gossiping with others who saw and commented the exact same things. She raised an eyebrow and jerked her chin up. One or two smiled, but as the last wind stirred her blue-streaked hair they caught the glint in her eyes and the grins faded. Something made them glance at each other, and they began to trickle away. When the last straggler turned she turned as well, striding back down the Bowl of the Weyr.

"Lovely," she muttered to herself. "Absolutely wonderful." The events of the morning had taken longer than she thought; it was high noon, so she decided to find some lunch. The Kitchen Cavern where she had grabbed breakfast was her best bet, and she could wait there to hear what the Weyrleaders decided about Raia and Milath. She reached mentally for her fire lizards. They were where she had left them, gossiping with others of their kind down by the lake. Elzin and Nivi stayed where they were, but Vanya popped out above her head, and chattering at her, settled on the teenager's shoulder.

As soon as she entered the room she became aware that there was less noise than there had been in the morning. Unfortunately, this was not due entirely to the smaller group of people. The only talking was in hushed whispers; the speakers often glanced around furtively. Star also noticed a good many looking at her. She ignored them, reaching up the steady her green fire lizard, and went to collect her lunch. To avoid the stares she sat with her back to the room, facing the wall in a corner.

Vanya helped her with her food immediately. "Didn't you get enough?" she quietly asked the green with a smile. Star gave the fire lizard some of her food, but was surprised by how hungry she was herself, and soon they polished off the thick stew and bread rolls.

Her little friend licked the last of the stew out of the bowl, chirped, and resumed her perch on the teenager's shoulder. Still trying not to notice the hushed tones and glances all around, Star returned the dishes and left the Cavern.

Outside she looked around, wondering where to go next and what to do. In the end she decided to go sit in the sun. Her three fire lizards were enthusiastic about this, and the absent two put in a wet appearance over her head, spraying her with excess water. "Hey!" she said, grinning up at them and brushing off the sprinkling of water. They chirped in a self-satisfied way, and gave her the image of a good dive with a blue dragon in the lake.

Bronze Nivi chattered at Vanya as he settled on the girl's other shoulder and Star held up an arm to Elzin. Nonchalantly the blue settled, folding one wing to his back and preening the opposite wingtip. She laughed and tapped his nose gently. He peeped at her then went back to licking the dripping water off his pale blue hide. The water-darkened patches on his skin and the lightness of the dry parts made him look distinctly odd.

Down by the lake Star found a large flat rock and sat down on it, watching the weyrlings from the last clutch, not too far away, having fun in the cool water. After a bit she lay back on the rock with the fire lizards around and on her, put an arm over her eyes to shield them from the warm, bright sun, and relaxed. For now, it was all she could do.

000

Time slid past slowly, and Star wasn't sure if she fell asleep in the sun, but after a long while it seemed someone was shaking her shoulder. She groaned and batted at the hand. "Go 'way," she grumbled, voice muffled by the arm she still had flung across her face.

"Come on, you need to get up now." At last Star sat up, blinking and shading her eyes against the renewed glare of the late afternoon sun on her eyes.

"What?" she asked, brushing hair away from her face. She saw it was a strange woman of about twenty and sat up straighter. "Oh, sorry," she told the woman, who smiled wryly. "I was just waiting..."

"Never mind, You need to get up now; your fire lizards need food." An impatient chirp and a sharp peck on the cheek from one of the little dragons emphasized her words.

"Uh-oh," she groaned, and swiftly got up. Star and the woman turned and walked at a brisk pace towards the Kitchen Caverns. "Thanks," the teenager told her escort. "They would've given me one heck of a wake-up call soon if you hadn't."

"This I know." The woman smirked, trying to suppress a grin; she glanced at the sky. Following her gaze Star saw, flying beside her own blue and bronze, a brown and a larger bronze. "Mine are older," she said, "but I never let one of their owners get the clawing if I'm around. Can't count the times they woke me up."

"I'll help you, if you'd like," she offered. "My name's Liir (A/N: pronounced li-ir, as in a smooth blending of the name 'Lee', and 'ear'). I came for the Hatching with my uncle, Lobim, a Rider here at Benden."

Star nodded and reached up to pet Vanya as the green clung to her shoulder, crooning in her ear. "I'd appreciate the help. I'm Star," she added, holding out her hand for the other to shake. Liir nodded and took the hand.

"So it's true?" she asked. "You were the one who stopped that strange goldrider from kidnapping the new hatchling and her rider?"

Wincing, Star fingered the blue piece in her hair. 'Really need to get it covered now,' she thought. Out loud she said carefully, "It was a joint effort. I did alert the dragons," she admitted quietly, "but it was they who caught Milath and Raia." She smirked and quoted Jack Sparrow from _Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest _to herself. "'I was nothing more than an almost-innocent bystander..."

Some other emotion colored the woman's tone as she persisted. "Then you were also the one who tried to get the gold to Impress you when she hatched."

Incensed, Star glared at her and her fire lizards winged over hear head, eyes red and yellow, just as angered. "I did not!" she informed Liir. "The other dragons wanted me to Impress her --that's why Ramoth ditched me down there in the first place-- but I'm not going to be a dragonrider and Fyia was the right one for Laiath, and I got them together and things all worked out!

"And I'm going to stay as far away from the next Hatching as I can, even if I do talk to dragons!" she grumbled in finish. "I just want to go _home_..." she whispered to herself, looking away and holding Vanya close for comfort. "It's all I've wanted to do since I got here." The green chirped encouragingly and the others crooned in sympathy. The gave her images of her room and her house from the air, and she chuckled slightly.

"Where do you come from?" asked Liir.

Star snorted. "Oi," she mumbled, rubbing her face with a hand. "'_A long time ago in a galaxy far, _**far**_ away'_." She quoted Star Wars in a low mutter, but how true it was. How very annoyingly, _scarily_ true.


	13. Always

_Disclaimer_: I don't own anything/anyone from the Pern world books. I do own most of the characters in this story and anything else not from the original series.

Chapter Twelve: _Always_

"I'm from… just... nowhere," she told the woman cagily. "Over... over South." 'Talk about asking for directions...' "What about you?" she asked to change the subject.

"I'm from... Nowhere, too." Liir's vague words started an uncomfortable silence between them. At the Kitchen Cavern Star attempted to break the void between them.

"I would still be grateful for the help feeding these things," she told the older woman, who nodded, grinning.

"We'll have a full fair of fire lizards, then, it seems," Liir said, gesturing up at her brown and bronze, who had followed close to her and started cheeping. "If you'll allow us to eat with you?" she asked Star, who nodded.

They got some food for the small fair, both trying to ignore the stares the teenager was getting from most of the people in the Caverns, and sat down in a corner, the fire lizards chirping and chattering to get their food. Liir and Star had their hands full trying to keep Star's three as well as Liir's two fed equally. When at last the five were full they both sighed in relief.

"Go now," the teenager said gently, nodding to the five to leave the table where they sat. "Go catch some sun." They all chirped and took to the air before disappearing. "Thanks for the help," she added to Liir. "I probably won't see you around, so just... bye." The woman nodded, and Star turned to leave. "'_I...'m gonna soak up the sun...'_" she sang under her breath as she turned to leave, smiling.

"Wait a minute, what's that song?" Star turned back guiltily.

"Nothing..."

"No; come on, I want to hear it," Liir begged. "It sounded interesting."

'A bar or two can't hurt,' she thought, and sang softly Soak Up the Sun by Cheryl Crow.

"_'I...'m gonna soak up the sun_

_Gonna tell ev'ry one_

_to lighten up..._'"

She was startled to hear an echo of her voice. Looking up she saw five or six fire lizards plus her own and Liir's, humming gently along with her. Their low, gentle voices became pure, crystalline descants, rising in a sweet counterpoint to the song as she smiled in delight at this latest revelation of their skills and continued.

"_'I'm gonna tell 'em that I...'ve..._

_got no one to blame..._

_for ev'ry time I'm feel lame_

_I'm lookin' up..._'"

Most of the fire lizards reared back on their haunches, balancing with their wings, and others dove off, caroling to the song at the top of their lungs. Star sang louder, putting emotion into her voice, and began again from he beginning, though she semi-paraphrased and twisted it because she couldn't remember some of it. (A/N: Mainly because the author can't remember it.)

"_'My friend the communist_

_holds meetings in his RV;_

_I can't afford his gas_

_so I'm stuck here watching TV._

"_'I don't have digital:_

_I've got less than squat,_

_but it's not having what you want;_

_it's wanting what you got._'"

She paused and sighed, looking at her empty hands. "It's better when I've got a guitar. It's about the only thing I know how to play on that thing." A lizard chirped sorrowfully/inquiringly, and Star looked up. Vanya leapt off her perch and came to rest on her shoulder. "Nah, not right now, kid," she told the green, turning away from the corner. Applause broke out all of the sudden and she blinked, raising a hand to steady both herself and the fire lizard.

A man came forward holding a guitar. "Oh, no. Nononononono..." She stepped back, holding up her hands in surrender. "Uh-uh." Star sawed her hands back and forth in a negative gesture, but the man, dressed with plenty of blue on, marking him a Harper, put one of her hands on the neck. "Oh, no. Not-" The Harper smiled and stepped back, leaving her holding the guitar.

Star looked up and around at the people, who watched her, eyes flicking over her audience. With horror, she saw that Lessa, F'lar and Raia were watching from the back. She also saw Pralosa, Joozith's rider, and Tristan and Jessica, a bronzerider and the rider of Vailath, the only silver dragon on Pern.

"Screwed, screwed; I'm so totally dead," she muttered to herself, then took a breath. Star settled the guitar and flicked her blue streak out of her eyes, then struck the chords and finished the song accompanied by the fire lizards and some of those who picked up on the words of the chorus quickly.

"_'I'm gonna soak up the sun,_'" she began the conclusion, slowing the chords down.

"_'Got my 45 on so I..._

_can rock on..._'"

Star let the last notes fade and brought the instrument down. Cheers sent the fire lizards in a frenzy of chirps and surprising convolutions in the air of the Kitchen Cavern. She passed the guitar back to its owner and hurried out of the door, trailing her three fire lizards.

She dashed as fast as she could back to the entrance of the Hatching Grounds and hid inside the tunnel's shadows. After a time, when her heart slowed down and her breathing leveled out again, she slid down to the floor and put her head in her hands. "I just want to go home," she said to the fire lizards that perched on her knees and shoulder. "I've already attracted far too much attention here. 'There's no place like home. There's no place like home.'" Vanya chirped encouragingly and sent Star a quick image of Joozith and Pralosa.

"So, since it was Joozith who got her here, because I called her, she and her rider should get me back, right?" Vanya cheeped again and star stroked the little dragon's neck. "All right," she told them, standing up. Her mind was decided.

_Joozith?_ she called. _Ramoth, Mnementh..._ She decided to try the Weyrwoman, as she had the night before. This time she tried to whisper, rather than shout. _Lessa? It's Star..._

_Faranth's Shell, child,_ the woman said, startled. _I don't think I shall ever get used to contacting _you_ this way..._

_You won't have to._ Before Lessa could ask her, Star continued. _I'm leaving; going home. Some people can leave behind Earth, but I can't. I have my family, and my fire lizards to remember Pern by. But I'm leaving. I'm calling Joozith and Pralosa and I'm leaving._

Lessa's disappointment reached her as Star felt her tell the others what was happening. _So be it, child,_ she said sadly. _Farewell. But wherever and whenever you are, we will aid if you only call, _she reminded the girl. _Whatever your need, the dragons and Riders of Pern are here for you if you only call out to us. Always, Star._

_Always,_ affirmed Joozith, alighting beside her outside of the Hatching Grounds.

"Always," Pralosa said as she leapt down from her dragon.

"Always," Star whispered to herself.

_Always, _echoed the voices of all the dragons of Benden Weyr. _We will always be there for you, Star._

000

From the air Star viewed Benden Weyr a last time as she and Pralosa on Joozith circled higher and higher into the air. The heartbeat pulse of the green dragon's wings throbbed in her ears. She surveyed the dragons gathered on ground and spire of rock and in the air with them, sending personal thanks and farewells to all of them she knew by name, and to those she hadn't had a chance to meet specifically. Milath had told her that she and Raia had been pardoned and were going back to their own time as soon as she had. Ramoth and Mnementh told her they were disappointed she hadn't wanted to become a dragonrider, but they understood.

Now at the last she looked at the dragons of Benden Weyr, arrayed to bid her goodbye. She smiled a last time as Joozith let out a resounding roar, echoed by the dragons and their riders, shot through with the smaller voices of the fire lizards. Elzin, Vanya and Nivi cheeped and fluttered closer to her as Joozith prepared to take them between to when she had first picked up the teenager.

Star took a deep breath and heard Pralosa do the same. Blackness enveloped them and the absolute chill of teleportation made her teeth chatter, though she could not feel them. 'Come on, come _on_...!' she thought, drawing on her connection to her world, straining to get home, pulling herself through time and space to where she knew she would always belong.


	14. Time Disorientation

_Disclaimer_: I don't own anything/anyone from the Pern world books. I do own most of the characters in this story and anything else not from the original series.

Chapter Fourteen: _Time Disorientation_

**Pern**

"What happened?" she gasped, utterly disoriented.

"Don't ask anything!" Joozith and Pralosa dumped her off and she staggered in the wind from their wings.

It had all happened so _fast_…

Star stood in the Bowl of Benden Weyr once again, a place she had so recently left. But now she would wait here until she could go home. "Star?" a voice called to her. "Is that you again?"

Slowly she turned. Joozith and Pralosa, the age gone from them again in the blink of an eye, came up behind her. "Again?" she said wonderingly to herself, not caring if they heard her. "Myself… again?"

Time could not be changed.

"Are you all right?" the greenrider asked. "And didn't we kind of just get you back home?"

Star looked at her for a long moment. The woman had said everything would be all right. And in her heart she now believed it. Time was the same; the past was what had happened, and it could not be changed. She herself had saved herself that night so many millennia ago, with the help of this dragonrider. But an aged version.

Five years from now, she would go back and save herself as she was now. She had, so she would. And for the first time since learning she would be separated from her world and family for so long, she was at peace with every decision she had made, with every choice that had brought her to this point.

"Yes," she answered Pralosa at last, believing in her heart of hearts, her soul of souls, that it was true. Vanya settled on her shoulder and rubbed her head along Star's cheek. "I'm better than all right… now." 'Everything will come full circle, my past is my future; as it has been so it will be. Wow, that sounded very mysterious and prophetic.' She chuckled to herself and grinned as Pralosa. "Yeah, I'm fine. But… I think I'll be staying for a while. I… sort of talked some sense into myself."

Pralosa frowned, but Star just shook her head. "I'll explain later. But… it'll be about fire Turns, I think, before anything makes sense." Joozith rumbled. Star went over to her and gave the green dragon's muzzle a hug. _Thank you my friend, for everything, past, present and future,_ she told her.

_You are most welcome, Star_. The teenager smiled, then yawned. "Jetlag, damn," she muttered. "Here I am on another world, and I've got jetlag." 'Well, at least some things are normal.'

"You've had a rough few days," Pralosa said, smiling crookedly. "Bed, then food, in that order, and then…"

"And then we'll see. My path is not yet fully shown. Only when the circle of time is completed will it by revealed." 'There I go again; Ms. Prophet.' "Never mind," she said. Silently the two turned and walked back into Benden Weyr.

Only one glance did Star spare, a swift look at two green dragons, eyes locked, one here on the ground, one silhouetted by the two moons. Silently they nodded too each other, and turned away.

Star smiled, and walked under the tunnel archway. That one step, into Benden Weyr, would change her life utterly, more than she could ever have imagined. As she did so, she accepted fate and destiny, trusting in not only the past to do what was right, but the future, and herself.

Softly, as she and Pralosa walked down the hallway lined with fading glows, she began to sing to herself, a song that took on more meaning for her than ever before.

_The road goes ever on and on_

_Down from the door where it began_

_Now far ahead the road has gone_

_And I must follow… if I can…_

_Pursuing it with eager feet_

_Until it joins some larger way_

_Where many paths and errands meet_

_And whither then?... I cannot say…_

–By J. R. R. Tolkien


End file.
